Looks like Kerry is sucking up to the Pols after bashing them

[FishForLunch]

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry thanked Poland in a newspaper interview published Monday for its military involvement in Iraq and promised Polish businesses a chance for lucrative reconstruction contracts there should he win the Nov. 2 election.

The comments, published in the Gazeta Wyborcza daily, came after President Aleksander Kwasniewski criticized Kerry for allegedly playing down the Poles' contribution to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

"I am grateful to Poland for standing by the Euro-American partnership these last few years and for its courageous contributions to Iraq," Kerry said in the interview, which was also carried by Nowy Dziennik, a Polish language paper published in the United States. "I will not forget that."

Kerry accused President Bush of losing international backing for U.S. actions in Iraq. Several countries, including Spain and the Philippines, have pulled their troops out of the U.S.-led mission in Iraq this year.

Polish troops took part in the invasion last year, and the country now commands an international security force in central Iraq. Currently, there about 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, along with 8,300 British troops, 2,800 South Koreans, 2,700 Italians and 2,350 Poles.

[Drbio]

Another last gasp reach....